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<title>This Is Why You Have A Private Savings Account Labelled "For Things I Broke When Drunk/Tired/Horny" by Thunderrrstruck</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217144">This Is Why You Have A Private Savings Account Labelled "For Things I Broke When Drunk/Tired/Horny"</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck'>Thunderrrstruck</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Exhaustion, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Missions, Self-Imposed Stress, Sleep Deprivation, whumptober2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:47:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony comes back from a self-imposed mission dead on his feet, truly delirious from the strain of crime-fighting on four hours of sleep.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pepper Potts/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This Is Why You Have A Private Savings Account Labelled "For Things I Broke When Drunk/Tired/Horny"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for day 23 of Whumptober2020. Prompt: Exhaustion.</p><p>Back at it on AO3! I posted several smaller whumptober fills on my Tumblr (@tonystarksspoopyhouseofkids), which you can check out after this one-shot!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony hit the protruding pad of Stark Tower with a clank of metal. He strained with every muscle to keep his eyes open, but his progress from outside to inside was a blur of golden lights and pitch black. He crashed into the side of the bar – since when.. was he not outside anymore...? – and raked a hand blandly across the marble to straighten himself. Unfortunately, his armoured arm caught an array of decanters and littered them across the ground.</p><p>Tony blinked at the shattered shards. <em>Glass is supposed to make a sound, right? When it breaks? Did something break? Does the invincible Iron Man have invincible glass now? </em>Promptly forgetting what could be a promising well of business potential, Tony pulled his brows into a frown, perplexed by the million glittering stars spread across the tiles.</p><p>“Tony!”</p><p>Shrill. Oh, how shrill.</p><p>“Are you okay? I heard– What the hell happened here? What’s this mess?”</p><p>His shoulders tensed in preparation of his next move; Tony shoved himself up from the marble countertop, lifted one leg over the other, and jerked towards the sound of his girlfriend.</p><p>“Heyyy, Pepper...” he slurred, trying on his best smirk. “Care for a drink?”</p><p>“Yeah, you’re too tired to flirt,” she deadpanned. Six words to take all the ‘pretend’ out of ‘pretending to be conscious enough to function’.</p><p>Pepper bounced over on the tips of her sock-clad toes and laid a hand on each of his arms– well, the armour around each of his arms.</p><p>“I’ve been trying to call you for ages!” she berated.</p><p>“No signal,” was all the explanation he could give.</p><p>“What?!” Tony could imagine the red red tingeing her cheeks, the strand of orange falling from her ear. The image swam in the murky waters of his brain. Too bad his eyes felty closed. “Were you in outer space or something?” He shook his head and tried to correct her, but all that fell from his lips were the silent syllables of <em>An’da</em>. “And let’s get that armour off you.”</p><p>“Is it– it’s not.. on?” He glanced down at his feet. Lo and behold, the red and gold glinted in fluorescents. He spiralled out a laugh. “Must’ve.. machinery, been in the.. Think I landed wrong.” Maybe a smirk would work this time; just his cute, charming self, explaining away his hysterically dumb moments with that signature Stark <em>twinkle in his eye™</em>. That should work.</p><p>In an unexpected twist of events, Pepper ignored his brilliant strategy. </p><p>“Let’s get you– how do you work this?” she asked. “JARVIS?”</p><p><em>“Disengaging emergency ejection,”</em> something echoed in his ear. Tony felt the cocoon around his extremities and torso break apart. The pieces hit the carpet around him with muffled thuds, muffled because the drums in his ears pounded louder than ever. And ran <em>cold</em>, the air around his ears turned ice cold.</p><p>“Why’s there a weird British guy in my suit?” he asked as Pepper took him in her arms. Together, they stumbled towards the couch.</p><p>“That’s JARVIS, Tony,” she explained calmly, albeit with a clip in her tone. “Not the super intelligence interface you created in your teens or anything and who runs the company when I can’t.”</p><p><em>Oh. That dude</em>.</p><p>“I know that guy, I invented him,” he said, sparing another chuckle. A cushion suddenly appeared beneath him. As he heaved down, he was enveloped in fluff; he felt it on his side, his shoulder, his entire right arm, but he wasn’t comfortable. He squirmed around until he had circled onto his back.</p><p>"There you go, Tony.” A weight came down by his head which was briefly lifted before lowered, gently, onto someone’s lap. <em>Pepper’s</em>, he remembered, <em>it’s Pepper’s lap. I love Pepper</em>.</p><p>A beautiful, redhead angel, on her head adorned a halo, loomed over him. Really close. Tony knit his brows together, inspecting the hovering expression of... of... <em>what was it called?</em></p><p>“You’re cute,” he blurted out.</p><p>“I can’t do this with you right now.”</p><p>Tony’s heart dropped and lip protruded. “Why?”</p><p>“You need <em>sleep</em>, Tony.”</p><p>“I need...” <em>Sleep?</em> Maybe. He almost slipped that word out, but instead, his tongue had another pronunciation in mind: “you?”</p><p>There was that grin he loved so much! He felt fingers slid through his hair and begin repetitively sifting through it. It felt like silk sliding across silk, which was probably a compliment for his conditioner brand or the tower’s hand-soap situation.</p><p>“I’ll be right here when you wake up,” she said. “Promise.”</p><p>Tony nestled onto his side, his head falling very comfortably on her thighs.</p><p>Darkness came swiftly, wrapping him in a velvet blanket  as he drifted gently in the breeze. In the breeze, a faint declaration, he heard; the whispers proclaimed their love. They loved him; <em>she</em> loved him. His guardian angel, his Pepper, his love.</p>
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